‘Brutally-frank’ Vivian says haze a deliberate, man-made tragedy, crime

SINGAPORE — He may be the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister, but Dr Vivian Balakrishnan put aside diplomatic niceties when talking about how the transboundary haze had blighted the region during a forum today (Nov 3).

“I know foreign ministers are supposed to be nice, smiley, diplomatic people. But since I used to be the Environment Minister, I can be frank. Brutally frank,” he said during his plenary address at the 4th Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development held at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

Without mincing his words, Dr Balakrishnan described the transboundary haze, caused by forest fires in Indonesia, as “a deliberate, man-made tragedy” and “a crime”.

“It would be bad enough if this was a natural disaster. We would all shake our heads, huddle together, reach out, help one another. 

“But this is not a natural disaster. This is ... vandalism against society, against the environment, and ultimately, against ourselves,” he said.

“It has impaired the health of millions of people, compromised the safety of aircraft, and damaged our regional economy.”

Dr Balakrishnan also hit out at the “handful of big companies” that are “profiting from this entire exercise at the expense of the environment and of the rest of society”. “This is a classic example of privatising the gain and socialising the pain,” he added.

Saying that a “multi-faceted solution” is needed to solve the perennial haze problem, the Foreign Minister called on neighbouring countries to “intensify regional and international cooperation in order to apply effective legal and commercial pressure on these few errant companies so that they will stop their unsustainable and irresponsible land and forest clearing”. 

Two Indonesian ministers, including Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, said last week the government will not disclose the names of companies identified as suspects in forest and land fires. 

Dr Balakrishnan noted that the Singapore Environment Council and Consumers Association of Singapore had been stepping up their efforts to get leading retailers to declare their products and supply chains are from sustainable sources. This had caused retailers to withdraw some products from their shelves.

“These may be symbolic, it may not cost the companies a lot of money at this point in time, but I think it sends a very clear signal that enough is enough, and that people are going to vote with their wallets and their feet,” Dr Balakrishnan said.

The minister will be representing Singapore at the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will be held in Paris from Nov 30 to Dec 11, where over 190 countries will be working towards a universal agreement on climate change.